Sack the Police

[Gromit]

After the astonishing crime figures which showed a 95% drop in crime and all the rioters promising not to do it again, is there any other option than to sack 6,000 frontine police officers?

http://www.telegraph....icers-to-be-lost.html

[thenry]

What front line ? Dock Green ? (Dixon)

[Buenchico]

Anyone who has witnessed the policing of non-contentious events in central London (such as the hundreds of police who were employed to escort a small group of people riding vintage bicycles along the Strand) can see how vastly over-staffed the Met are. I'd get rid of two thirds of them straight away.

[237SJ]

You never see police around here on foot. In fact you hardly ever see them in their cars either. Over-staffed - are you kidding? You obviously don`t live in London Buenchico. Visiting`s one thing but that`s not going to give you a reality check regarding the Met.

[shoota]

When policing events or demonstrations the planners always plan for the worst case, hence you often have 'overpolicing'.
When (to use Police jargon) it all goes pear-shaped, you almost always find that 'overpolicing' is in fact 'underpolicing'.

[wolf63]

No matter what the Police/Government do they are criticised by somebody, they can't win.

[emmie]

you rarely see the police walking the beat these days, not in our area, or indeed in most i have the pleasure or displeasure to know. I was in the area of North London the day after the riots and there wasn't a policeman to be seen, where were they all, in consideration that the city was still on high alert, expecting more trouble. Perhaps the powers that be can save money on the plastic plods instead, never can understand why we have them.

[Gromit]

// Asked whether there would be fewer frontline officers in future, Mr Cameron said: "According to Home Office statistics, if all forces achieve the current best average for visibility and availability, that would increase the number of officers available by 8,000." //
David Cameron - 30 March 2011.

It's getting hard to tell which are outright lies and which are Government U-Turns.

[Gromit]

Em10

The Conservatives' Election Manifesto promised:
// We will cut paperwork to get police out on the street //

[DrFilth]

http://menmedia.co.uk...statistics-for-august

[emmie]

Df, why would they do that?

[DrFilth]

read the letters sent in to the link em -)

[youngmafbog]

One suspects though that ther is an element, as in some councils and Government departments, who will go out of their way to stop the cuts working.

We all know cuts can be made, it is how and what. If a force decides to cut officers on the beat rather than the pen pushers we all want out of the offices then it proves their point, or so they think.

[Gromit]

youngmafbog

That is curious. You do not regard cutting police budgets as politically motivated, but you do regard the people implementing the cuts are.